The Christian film industry is an aspect of

Christian media Christian media, sometimes referred to as inspirational, faith and family, or simply Christian, is a cross-media genre that features a Christian message or moral. Several creative studios and mass media formats are considered to be aspects of ...

for films containing a Christian-themed message or moral. They are often

interdenominational Interdenominationalism is an evangelical Protestant movement of cooperation among various Christian denominations. History The movement has its origins in the founding of the London Missionary Society, a missionary society, in 1795 by variou ...

films, but can also be films targeting a specific denomination of Christianity.

Criteria

Popular mainstream studio productions of films with strong Christian messages or Biblical stories, such as '' Ben-Hur'', ''

The Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments ( Biblical Hebrew עשרת הדברים \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים, ''aséret ha-dvarím'', lit. The Decalogue, The Ten Words, cf. Mishnaic Hebrew עשרת הדיברות \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְ ...

'', ''

The Prince of Egypt ''The Prince of Egypt'' is a 1998 American animated musical drama film produced by DreamWorks Animation and released by DreamWorks Pictures. The first feature film from DreamWorks to be traditionally animated, it is an adaptation of the Bo ...

'', ''

The Robe ''The Robe'' is a 1942 historical novel about the Crucifixion of Jesus, written by Lloyd C. Douglas. The book was one of the best-selling titles of the 1940s. It entered the ''New York Times'' Best Seller list in October 1942, four weeks later ...

'', '' Sergeant York'', '' The Blind Side'', ''

The Book of Eli ''The Book of Eli'' is a 2010 American post-apocalyptic neo-Western action film directed by the Hughes Brothers, written by Gary Whitta, and starring Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman, Mila Kunis, Ray Stevenson, and Jennifer Beals. The story r ...

'', ''

Machine Gun Preacher ''Machine Gun Preacher'' is a 2011 American biographical action drama film directed by Marc Forster and starring Gerard Butler, Michelle Monaghan, and Michael Shannon. It tells the story of Sam Childers, a former gang biker turned preacher, and ...

'', '' Risen'', ''

Hacksaw Ridge ''Hacksaw Ridge'' is a 2016 biographical war film directed by Mel Gibson and written by Andrew Knight and Robert Schenkkan, based on the 2004 documentary ''The Conscientious Objector'' directed by Terry Benedict. The film focuses on the World ...

'', and ''

Silence Silence is the absence of ambient audible sound, the emission of sounds of such low intensity that they do not draw attention to themselves, or the state of having ceased to produce sounds; this latter sense can be extended to apply to the c ...

'', are not specifically part of the Christian film industry, being more agnostic about their audiences' religious beliefs. These films generally also have a much higher budget, production values and better known film stars, and are received more favourably with

film critics Film criticism is the analysis and evaluation of films and the film medium. In general, film criticism can be divided into two categories: journalistic criticism that appears regularly in newspapers, magazines and other popular mass-media outlets ...

. Many films from the Christian film industry are produced by openly confessing

Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words '' Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ ...

in independent companies mainly targeting a Christian audience. This has been on the rise since the success of

Sherwood Pictures Sherwood Pictures is an American independent Christian film production company in Albany, Georgia, United States. It is unusual among production companies in that it is a ministry of a local church, Sherwood Baptist Church. The company uses mostl ...

whose ''

Fireproof Fireproofing is rendering something (structures, materials, etc.) resistant to fire, or incombustible; or material for use in making anything fire-proof. It is a passive fire protection measure. "Fireproof" or "fireproofing" can be used as a n ...

'' was the highest grossing independent film of 2008.

History

Beginnings

Catholic priest

Athanasius Kircher Athanasius Kircher (2 May 1602 – 27 November 1680) was a German Jesuit scholar and polymath who published around 40 major works, most notably in the fields of comparative religion, geology, and medicine. Kircher has been compared to fe ...

promoted the

magic lantern The magic lantern, also known by its Latin name , is an early type of image projector that used pictures—paintings, prints, or photographs—on transparent plates (usually made of glass), one or more lenses, and a light source. Because a si ...

by publishing the book ''

Ars Magna Lucis et Umbrae ''Ars Magna Lucis et Umbrae'' ("The Great Art of Light and Shadow") is a 1646 work by the Jesuit scholar Athanasius Kircher. It was dedicated to Ferdinand IV, King of the Romans and published in Rome by Lodovico Grignani. A second edition was pu ...

'' in 1680. Controversy soon followed as

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

s and masons used the lanterns "to persuade followers of their ability to control both the forces of darkness and enlightenment" and temperance groups used the lanterns to fight

alcoholism Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomi ...

. In the 1800s, missionaries such as

David Livingstone David Livingstone (; 19 March 1813 – 1 May 1873) was a Scottish physician, Congregationalist, and pioneer Christian missionary with the London Missionary Society, an explorer in Africa, and one of the most popular British heroes of t ...

used the lanterns to present the

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

. Through the years, many Christians began to utilize motion picture for their own purposes. In 1899,

Herbert Booth Herbert Henry Howard Booth (26 August 1862 – 25 September 1926) was a Salvation Army officer, the third son of five children to William and Catherine Booth (Mumford), who later went on to serve as an independent evangelist. He oversaw t ...

, as part of the Salvation Army, claimed to be the first user of film for the cause of Christianity.

20th century

In the 1940s, Christian film libraries emerged. Harvey W. Marks started the Visual Aid Center in 1945. Circa 1968, Harry Bristow launched Christian Cinema in a small

theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

in the

Germantown Germantown or German Town may refer to: Places Australia * Germantown, Queensland, a locality in the Cassowary Coast Region United States * Germantown, California, the former name of Artois, a census-designated place in Glenn County * Ge ...

area of

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

, and in the early 1970s, the ministry moved to a theater in

Ambler, Pennsylvania Ambler is a borough in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. It is located approximately 16 miles (26 km) north of the Center City Philadelphia. History Lenape The historical territory of the Lenni Lenape was in the Delaware River Valley, in a ...

. Christian Cinema operated a movie theater that showed only Christian films, but closed down in the mid-1990s. The growth of Christian film libraries led to the Christian Film Distributors Association (CFDA) being formed in 1974. The CFDA began holding a conference each year for Christian filmmakers and

distributors A distributor is an enclosed rotating switch used in spark-ignition internal combustion engines that have mechanically timed ignition. The distributor's main function is to route high voltage current from the ignition coil to the spark plugs ...

. The Christian Film and Video Association (formerly the Christian Film Distribution Association) gave out Crown Awards for films that "glorify

Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

." The 1971 Christsploitation film '' If Footmen Tire You, What Will Horses Do?'' was based on a sermon by Estus Pirkle held on January 31, 1968 at Camp Zion in Myrtle with the title "If Footmen Tire You, What Will Horses Do?". The sermon was made available by print, and Estus W. Pirkle joined with filmmaker

Ron Ormond Ron Ormond (born Vittorio Di Naro, August 29, 1910 – May 11, 1981) was an American author, showman, screenwriter, film producer, and film director of Western, musical, and exploitation films. Following his survival of a 1968 plane crash, Ormo ...

in their first collaboration, and converted the sermon into a film. The pair made a number of other films, but this first film is the team's most well-known. The film became widely distributed among churches and church camps in the 1970s.

Movie theaters and film festivals

Since '' The Great Commandment'' opened in movie theaters in 1941, many Christian filmmakers have attempted to pursue theatrical releases. World Wide Pictures was a pioneer in partnering with churches to bring Christian films to the cinema. Gateway Films (now Gateway Films/Vision Video) was "formed with the express purpose of communicating the Christian Gospel in the secular motion picture theaters" and released '' The Cross and the Switchblade'' in 1972. In 1979, the ''

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religiou ...

'' film appeared in theaters across the United States. This film, based on the

Gospel of Luke The Gospel of Luke), or simply Luke (which is also its most common form of abbreviation). tells of the origins, birth, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. Together with the Acts of the Apostles, it makes up a two-vol ...

, was made for $6 million by

Campus Crusade for Christ Cru (until 2011 known as Campus Crusade for Christ—informally "Campus Crusade" or simply "crusade"—or CCC) is an interdenominational Christian parachurch organization. It was founded in 1951 at the University of California, Los Angeles by ...

. In 1993, Tom Saab launched the Merrimack Valley Christian Film Festival in

Salem, New Hampshire Salem is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 30,089 at the 2020 census. Being located on Interstate 93 as the first town in New Hampshire, which lacks any state sales tax, Salem has grown into a commer ...

. Each year this festival is held during

Easter Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...

week and draws an audience of thousands to a theater to watch Christian films for free. Saab's organization Christian Film Festivals of America has also presented film festivals in Salinas, California and Orlando, Florida. In October 1999, the Voice of Pentecost Church in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

hosted the 1st Annual WYSIWYG Film Festival. Other Christian film festivals include San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival, 168 Hour Film Project, and the Redemptive Film Festival.

Recent years

Many Christian films have been released to theaters since that time, such as ''

The Omega Code ''The Omega Code'' is a 1999 apocalyptic thriller film directed by Rob Marcarelli, written by Stephen Blinn and Hollis Barton, and starring Casper Van Dien, Michael York, Catherine Oxenberg and Michael Ironside. The premillennialist plot revolve ...

'' (1999), '' Megiddo: The Omega Code 2'' (2001), '' Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie'' (2002), '' Facing the Giants'' (2006), ''

The Ultimate Gift ''The Ultimate Gift'' is a 2006 American drama film directed by Michael O. Sajbel from a screenplay written by Cheryl McKay, which is based on the best selling novel by Jim Stovall, who cameos in the film. It stars Drew Fuller, Ali Hillis, Bill C ...

'' (2007), ''

Amazing Grace "Amazing Grace" is a Christian hymn published in 1779 with words written in 1772 by English Anglican clergyman and poet John Newton (1725–1807). It is an immensely popular hymn, particularly in the United States, where it is used for both ...

'' (2007), ''

'' (2008), '' The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie'' (2008), ''

The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry ''The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry'' is a 2008 Christian film, released to theaters on September 18, 2009. It was directed by Rich Christiano, and the majority of the film was filmed in Holley, New York, beginning August 18, 2007. Its world premier ...

'' (2009), ''

To Save a Life ''To Save a Life'' is a 2009 American Christian drama film directed by Brian Baugh and starring Randy Wayne, Deja Kreutzberg, Robert Bailey Jr., Steven Crowder and Sean Michael Afable. The film was released theatrically in the United States o ...

'' (2010), ''

Preacher's Kid Preacher's kid is a term to refer to a child of a preacher, pastor, deacon, vicar, lay leader, priest, minister or other similar church leader. Although the phrase can be used in a purely descriptive way, it may also be used as a stereotype. ...

'' (2010), ''

Letters to God ''Letters to God'' is a 2010 American Christian film, Christian drama film directed by David Nixon and starring Robyn Lively, Jeffrey Johnson (actor), Jeffrey Johnson, Tanner Maguire, Michael Bolten and Bailee Madison. The story was written by Pat ...

'' (2010), '' What If...'' (2010), '' The Grace Card'' (2011), '' Courageous'' (2011), '' October Baby'' (2012), '' Last Ounce of Courage'' (2012), ''

Home Run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

'' (2013), '' Grace Unplugged'' (2013), '' I'm in Love with a Church Girl'' (2013), '' Son of God'' (2014), '' God's Not Dead'' (2014), '' Persecuted'' (2014), '' Old Fashioned'' (2015), '' Do You Believe?'' (2015), '' War Room'' (2015), ''

Beyond the Mask ''Beyond the Mask'' is a 2015 American Christian historical action-adventure film directed by Chad Burns and starring Andrew Cheney, John Rhys-Davies, and Kara Killmer. The film follows an ex-mercenary (Andrew Cheney) during the American Revol ...

'' (2015), '' I’m Not Ashamed'' (2016), '' I Can Only Imagine'' (2018), '' Breakthrough'' (2019), and '' Overcomer'' (2019). In 2006, nearly 50 Christian-faith films were produced. The films grossed an average $39 million. All five of the major Hollywood studios have created marketing departments to target the growing demand for faith-based and family fare. ''Movieguide'' publisher

Ted Baehr Millard Robert E. Theodore Baehr (born 1946) is an American media critic and chairman of the Christian Film and Television Commission, a division of Good News Communications, Inc. He is publisher and editor-in-chief of ''Movieguide'', a website ...

said, "There is competition for the Christian audience now that there hasn't been before. I thought at some point it would level off, but so far it's getting bigger and bigger. It's more than I could have possibly imagined. One of the audiences that has become stable and even grown for

book A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physi ...

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...

and movies is the Christian audience." The proliferation of Christian movies and Christian films has led to the establishment of many online retailers that focus their business exclusively on the sale and distribution of Christian movies online and family-friendly films such as Parables.tv
Exploration Films
based in Monument, Colorado, FishFlix.com,

ChristianCinema.com ChristianCinema.com, Inc. is a Christian film, Christian Filmmaking, film production company as well as a distribution company, founded in 1999, by brothers Bobby Downes and Kevin Downes. In addition, the website reviews both Movie theater, theatri ...

and ChristianMovies.com. Parables TV also provides streaming and

linear TV Broadcast programming is the practice of organizing or ordering (scheduling) of broadcast media shows, typically radio and television, in a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly or season-long schedule. Modern broadcasters use broadcast automation ...

. In 2013, FishFlix.com opened the first ever DVD store devoted completely to Christian DVDs in

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...

. The 2014 film '' God's Not Dead'' is one of the all-time most successful

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

Christian films and the 2015 film '' War Room'' became a box office number-one film.

List of highest-grossing Christian films

Following is a list of highest-grossing Christian films of 2004–present, including only those films with overt Christian themes explicitly promoting

The Gospel The gospel or good news is a theological concept in several religions. In the historical Roman imperial cult and today in Christianity, the gospel is a message about salvation by a divine figure, a savior, who has brought peace or other benefit ...

or an otherwise Christian message and targeted primarily at

Evangelical Christian Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual expe ...

audiences. Grosses presented here are worldwide box office receipts.

Christian film in Africa

South Africa

Faith-based, family-values films are popular in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

due to its predominantly Christian audience including '' Faith Like Potatoes'', a 2006 biopic of

farmer A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer m ...

-turned-

preacher A preacher is a person who delivers sermons or homilies on religious topics to an assembly of people. Less common are preachers who preach on the street, or those whose message is not necessarily religious, but who preach components such as ...

Angus Buchan.

Nigeria

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jour ...

Christians are actively contributing to the booming Nigerian film industry known as

Nollywood Nollywood is a sobriquet that originally referred to the Nigerian film industry. The origin of the term dates back to the early 2000s, traced to an article in ''The New York Times''. Due to the history of evolving meanings and contexts, there ...

. Christian films makes up about 20% of Nigerian films. Independent companies, ministries, and large churches producing hundreds of Christian films often see themselves as an alternative to Nollywood. Nevertheless, they have participated in mainstream success and many of the films appear on state television channels. The

Redeemed Christian Church of God The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) is a Pentecostal megachurch and denomination founded in Lagos, Nigeria. The General overseer (most senior pastor) is Enoch Adeboye, ordained in 1981. The church in Lagos had an average church attendanc ...

founded Dove Studios, which has become the country's biggest movie studio and distributor. More than 50,000 copies of their movies were sold before April 2006. The Gospel Film Festival (GOFESTIVAL) is also a major Nigerian film attraction.

References

External links

FishFlix.com

christianmoviesfree.com

crossflix.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Christian Film Films about Christianity Film genres Film 1970s in film 2000s in film 2010s in film

Criteria

History

Beginnings

20th century

Movie theaters and film festivals

Recent years

List of highest-grossing Christian films

Christian film in Africa

South Africa

Nigeria

See also

References

Further reading

External links